TypePad Profile

October 2014

October 25, 2014

{this moment}

. . . . . . . . .

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your moment in the comments for all to find and see.

October 19, 2014

I cannot believe, as much as I love this yarn and FO, that I finished this in MAY and am just writing about it now!

There must surely have been many garden parties in the Age of Brass and Steam.

Garter Eyelet.

Such a simple and yet pleasing detail.

I would talk endlessly about it at a Mansfield Garden Party.

This shawl was ridiculously fast and easy. I perfect pattern to either show off a wildly varigated yarn, such as this one. Or to make a simple, elegant gift with a precious skein. Perhaps the perfect elegant wrap for a wedding or evening out? Use with silk or bison or something equally divine?

I knit this mostly during nap time and even the longest rows went quickly. I followed the pattern, but if I did it again, I would gradually increase the spacing of the eyelet rows, instead of every 10 repeats, as the pattern calls for... Maybe something like 6 - 8 - 10 - 12.

Project details: Pattern: Age of Brass and SteamYarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina, Mansfield Garden Party colorway, 379 yardsModifications: I kept going until I was near the end of my skein and then added another garter eyelet row near the end. Yardage total 2014: 1747

October 17, 2014

{this moment}

. . . . . . . . .

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your moment in the comments for all to find and see.

October 13, 2014

I can't believe I've had no FO posts since April! And I really have knit nearly every day this year.

So, in keeping my idea from my last post that I just need to get some FOs out there, here are the most recent three. I've been a bit disorganized since I finished my top (I DID finish) and haven't had a chance to wind any yarn. But I had a class and didn't want to lose all that knitting time. So I've just had a stream of dishclothes.

Project details: Pattern: Garter eyeletYarn: Sugar n Cream, 59 yardsModifications: no mods, obvs, but I did use scraps, so the last bit is a different color blue, though it is hard to tell.Yardage total 2014: 1312

October 05, 2014

Here is the update for May through September. There won't be much kitting this time around, I'm afraid! As before, If you only want to see the knitting goals, just boop, boop, boop, down to the RED text.

Without further ado...

1. This may be the one bright light in today's post. I don't feel like I've done much well this summer, but I am good at plopping down in my dirty house and building a megablocs tower and knocking it down and building a new one. That's a good thing.

2 & 4. I think we're doing good on raising a happy little boy. He is incredibly full of joy.

3. I'll be optimistic and think that Wiggle doesn't see all my stress.

But this has been a not good few months for me. It started in May and I feel like I've been playing catch up since then. I need space. And space is hard to find when you live in a house built so that everyone hangs out in a central living room together.

These months have been marked by feelings of tiredness, things undone, and a general feeling that I lack an escape. I would like to feel I could relax and not have this always present feeling that there is so much that needs to be done that isn't being done. Most moments of relaxation come with guilt then or later of all the things that needed done and weren't. Part of me feels that I ought to just buckle down for a few weeks, recognize that yes, there is a short term loss in down time, for the benefits on the other end (a house that is clean and uncluttered and not junked up with crap; a business that is off the ground, etc). However, so often, at night, I'm just tired. Part of this probably has to do with what I'm eating... more on this later.

5. Well, being stressed seems to lead to quick anger. I have this book already, but - of course - can't find it in our trashed storage area. So, I said the heck with it and bought The Art of Happiness on kindle. I've been slowly reading and am enjoying it. For all my overthinking, mindfulness has never been a strength of mine. I'm good at the post mortem, not the forethought.

6. Going to bed by 10.... hahahahahahahaha..... hmmm, maybe that is another part of the stress / tired problem.... I tend to stay up to have a few moments alone and not working. And then get lost on the internet and go to bed late.... hmmmm.... I guess the good thing about this public airing of my life is that by writing it down, I can see how things are interconnected.

7 & 8 & 9. Oh shit, I wish I were minimizing! I wish I could find stuff! There has been some want buying, but not much, truly. The kitchen remodel created some good minimizing in the kitchen and I cleared out some clothes. But our spare room has been hit with crap creep! If our storage area burned down, I think I'd feel so much better. Isn't that sad? It says so much about the unwanted detritus of life. I also intend to do some yarn minimizing, but I have no idea when. You'll hear about it here, trust me!

10. No processed sweets.... going into June, I realized I was buying donuts and ice cream all the time. I fell off the wagon and bought a ton of junk food. I realized it was out of control and tried to cut back. I even tried to go sugar free for August and made it seven days.

I realized something amazing in that seven days - I am taking in so much sugar for ready carbs and energy! I was SO HUNGRY during that week. Seriously, I was constantly hungry. Nursing and working full time and chasing after a toddler is tiring. Rather than eating healthy, I've used sugar as a crutch. I intend to do much better until Thanksgiving. I'm thinking there will be some sugar free weeks between now and then. I don't like eating crap and Wiggle watches everything we do - I don't want him picking up our bad food habits.

11. Working on the filing cabinet. Woefully behind on the shredding....

12. I do straighten the house each night (making no progress on the dust and accumulated messes). And while I hate not sitting down until 9 some nights, I am just the type of person that would be so much more stressed to wake up in the morning and face the mess of the day(s) before.

13. We do have a garden! A friend has been helping us, but it's in and makes me happy. I want to get out there even more with Wiggle. One benefit of Hawaii is there really is no garden season... perfect for garden procrastinators like me.

14. Yoga became horribly sporadic in May, June and July. It remains limited to 1-2 asanas a day. I was focusing on at least doing a sun salutation each day, but switched it up and have been trying to do tree pose every night. I have this belief it is grounding me. And maybe that's craziness, but I am feeling less out of control than I did in May - June and I've gone from falling out of tree most days to being able to hold it for awhile and try to focus on rooting and breathe.

15 & 16. Well, you know the 1/2 marathon didn't happen but 5 weeks ago I dug in my heels and decided I was going to try very hard to run the Honolulu marathon. It is a sacrifice because long runs are on the weekend and I miss time with Iain. That said, I do think the running time has helped me clear my head and I'm running on trails so that is helping me to feel better too. When I start with the four weeks of 15+ mile long runs, I'm going to take a day of from work each week to make up for the 6-7 hours I'm missing with Wiggle each day.

17. I am feeling very happy about my reading. I've slacked off a bit these past few months - more victimization of the internet time thief - but still manage at least a few pages each night.

NOW FOR THE KNITTING GOALS!

18. I have so many FOs to tell you about. I always want to tell the whole story about an FO, but when I was getting ready for this post, I realized the last time I mentioned an FO was my April update! That is just crazy! So, I think I'll give up the dream of the perfect story and try harder to just get you some FO posts in the coming weeks.

19. Well, after my birthday, I bought yarn. And then, I found out that Cephlapod was going out of business because of the owner's complications with MS. At so many Stitches West conventions, I passed up their yarn because of price. Since I knew this was my last chance, I just went with it and bought these three lovelies...

20. Oh designs! I am going to release one this year, I really think I can do it. More so than the desire to release it, is the desire that Wiggle will get it and it will still be useful! And that is your only hint.

21. I hope I'm doing better on blog comments. I truly value and appreciate each of you that comments.

Well, that is all for now! Writing this has helped me see some patterns for improvement. Hopefully I will have more positive things to report next month!

October 01, 2014

Angst blossom is complete! I finished just in time last night before the end of the KAL. More on the tank later. Well, I'm in a class this week so I knew I needed something to knit. I grabbed some yarn and cast on for another dishcloth. I found this pattern just before class started.

I'm on the final couple pages of Like Water. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Children learning organically, taking responsibility for their lives and their educations. I think it's what we all want for our children and something that our rigid school systems discourages.

Do you like trains? Wiggle likes trains! Especially ones named Thomas! :)